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Topic: Hell's Kitchen 9 (Read 7473 times)

Ramsay was really upset about the backward progress of this group of chefs. He challenged them to wake up and sent them to New York City to see the BLK Steakhouse, with executive chef Crooks leading a tour, and tour 7 ethnic restaurants there.

On return to Hell’s Kitchen, there was an expanded and reconfigured slot machine slot machine to determine ingredients and ethnic origin of cooking for each of the 7 remaining chefs. Here is an approximation of what those were:

I have to question the validity of the random nature of the “slot machine” as the probability is that there would be about 2 duplicates of cuisine in a normal situation. This is the gospel according to Ramsay in which probabilities are turned upside down. The chefs had to create, cook and plate in 45 minutes. The Ramsay set up the order of the presentation for a game called “King of the Hill.” Each chef if better than the existing occupant would take over an elevated seat. The team with the last person there would win. So this was the order of displacement:TommyElizabethNatalie – did not win against Elizabeth due to dish being too spicyPaulEliseWillJennifer

So the Red team won. What they won was an afternoon at Venice Beach zorbing inside plastic see-through zorb balls that are popular in New England. I have not seen them used on level ground before, but the Red team seemed to be having a lot of fun with the assistance of Maitre D’ James.

Elizabeth appeared to be not mentally there for the dinner service. She made a number of stupid mistakes on fish that indicated that she had “lost it”. Elise made some similar mistakes on allowing rare beef Wellington. Natalie was on a different planet that dinner service. She was back on fish again and started with scallops cooked on only one side. Tommy had soggy onion rings. Elise had a raw sea bass. Ramsay had had enough. He decided to ban Elise and Elizabeth from the kitchen. That left Jennifer to work alone with sous chef Andi and Ramsay to get the Red orders out. She did admirably well.

Ramsay stated that neither team had won. He asked each team to nominate one member they wanted to get rid of to improve performance. Red nominated Elise. Blue nominated Natalie. Ramsay indicated that Natalie had made too many mistakes and eliminated her.

I would first like to clarify what to expect in remaining episodes. Tonight a repeat of last week 7 chefs compete will be followed by a new episode of 6 chefs compete. That will be followed in succeeding weeks by 5, 4 and 3 chefs. Since the finale is supposed to be on Sept. 19, there will have to either be a minimum of 2 double episodes or a later finale date.

I think it is worth taking another look at the top competitors. Jennifer has clearly emerged as the Red team leader. Elise has demonstrated a great palate but lacks the ability to lead the Red team. Elizabeth is still there, but I am not sure why since she has done a lot to distinguish herself negatively but little positively. Tommy has been surviving on borrowed time and his number is about to be up. Paul has not distinguished himself, but has not made many major mistakes either.

So, the finale should be Jennifer versus Will. Either Elizabeth or Tommy could be out next and the other is likely to be in the following episode. Then we will lose either Paul or Elise. If there is a two person finale (which I do not predict), then the other of those two will be eliminated.

HK9, Ep. 12The challenge is for each team to coordinate cooking times so the dishes come out together at 30 minutes. Jennifer and Tommy start at 30 minutes to go, Paul and Elizabeth at 20 minutes and Will and Elise at 10 minutes. The dishes were:

This challenge was won by the Blue team. They enjoyed a reward of taking a limo to Ted Baker of London boutique on rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills where they got bought fancy duds, Tommy something in size 0 for his girlfriend. The Red team was punished with reorganizing and cleaning the dining room.

Ramsay has closed Hell’s Kitchen to the public so it could serve a VIP Charity dinner. The Red team would cook for a table of 12 key supporters of the American Humane Society and the Blue team for a table of 12 key supporters of the American Heart Association. The 6 course menus for both were the same, but teams had to divvy up the responsibilities with one primary chef on each course, 2 courses with primary responsibilities for each chef and one or two chefs helping the primary chef with sides. Those primary responsibilities were:

Tommy started by having too much water in a side salad from not draining it before dressing it. Jennifer claimed that Elsie had sabotaged her lobster capellini by having uneven amounts of lobster on each plate. Elizabeth wanted to test her broiled chicken, but Ramsay told her it was perfect right then and needed to be served without delay. She could not because the squash side was not ready. Elise questioned the advice of Jennifer about the lack of salt in potatoes. Ramsay criticized Tommy’s risotto for each of 3 huge pans having a different taste and demanded that it be blended into one even larger pan. Elise claimed sabotage. Jennifer had the tarte tatin and some of it was undercooked. Jennifer claimed that one pan was cooked by Elise and she was certain that it happened there. More sabotage?

The Blue team performed well and without any major dissension. Blue easily won this dinner service and they earned the black jackets hat go with the consolidated team.

Ramsay had a great opportunity to play with the heads of the Red team members and he took full advantage of it. Ramsay asked the usual “Why should you stay?” to each of the 3 Red team members. Elise’s belief that she was a great leader sharply contrasted with Jennifer’s and Elizabeth’s that she sabotaged them and was always the first to throw them under the bus and then back up multiple times to finish the job. Then he told Jennifer to take off her red jacket…and put on a black one. For Elizabeth he told her to leave. For Elise, who had totally whined and cried, he told her to put on a black jacket. We have one or two weeks more of her drama queen act to put up with.

I will complete a complete recap of HK9, episode 13, but I want to recognize now that no chef was eliminated tonight. That makes it virtually certain that there will be 2 eliminees next week, as HK9 needs to have 3 chefs for the finale Sept. 19.

An individual challenge started with making visually unappealing food appealing as the theme. There were 5 comfort food dishes to be selected and Elise knocked everyone down to reach the Eggplant Parmesan. Those dishes were:Elise-Eggplant ParmesanTommy-Chicken and DumplingsPaul-tuna casserole Jennifer-LasagnaWill-Meatloaf

The chefs had 50 minutes to increase the eye appeal and taste by cooking a new recipe. Ramsay brought in a panel of outside experts to judge this on a 1 to 10 points basis for both Appearance and Taste:

So Will as the winner of the individual challenge got to pick a teammate to take along for the reward, which started with a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce limo trip to Spago to be greeted by Wolfgang Puck and have food prepared by executive chef Lee Hefter. From there they went on to Foundry-on-Melrose for another meal personally prepared by Eric Greenspan. Will chose Elise to get to know her better and to hopefully be able to defuse the problems he expected to face with her in the kitchen.

The other chefs had to do Laundry Day with “traditional methods” using washboards instead of a washing machine.

Ramsay then threw a curveball for dinner service. To compete against the new Black team he brought back of team of HK veterans:

The first thing both teams had to do was develop a menu in one hour. There was World War III on the Black team with Elise unable to agree to suggestions from anyone else (she spun it differently but that was the essence of it). Will reacted strongly to this drama queen b.s. by Elise and stormed out just before the menus were finalized. Both teams then prepped and cooked.

Tommy, with the guidance of Will, did “a great job on appetizers” per Ramsay. With Paul’s help Elise got a fish dish out, with Ramsay responding “perfect.” Then Elise became very disruptive in the Black team kitchen. She attempted to take over Paul’s fish station when he made a relatively minor error, too hot lobster. Ramsay told Paul he was in charge of fish and should continue to be so. Will reacted strongly to this b.s. by Elise and stormed out of the kitchen just before it closed.

Tennille had raw tuna. Van had problems on meat, but then received a “nice” from Ramsay when he fixed them. Jennifer had a garnish that was badly botched. Overall, it was an excellent dinner service for both teams and Ramsay recognized that.

The outcome of dinner service hinged on customer comment cards, with the question of “would you return to this restaurant?” Ramsay kept everyone in suspense as along as possible, but finally he revealed that it was 80% positive for the veterans and 96% positive for the Black team. That showed a resounding success on the quality of the dishes.

Ramsay still asked the Black team to nominate 2 for potential elimination. Before that happened, Jennifer went to Paul and revealed a secret crush on him. The two nominees were Jennifer and Elise. Ramsay went through the charade of considering firing them, but neither had really done anything to deserve that. He let them off the hook. However, the next episode will have to have 2 members of the Black team eliminated. Who will they be? I am looking for one to be Elise. The other could be Tommy (who has shown improvement but still seems an airhead) or Jennifer.

I don't think there is any need for verification, but feel free. Elise is a good chef with a huge ego and need to dominate those around her. It's a common personality type in some industries, but not usually found broadly in the restaurant world. Note that Elise won the blind taste test, which could only be faked by Ramsay feeding her the answers in advance.

I am certain that Elise got into HK9 and stays in as a result of her controversial personality, but I expect that her time will be up next episode with the need to eliminate 2 chefs. Ramsay will want to keep Will and Paul and maybe either Jennifer or Tommy.

It is time for Ramsay's "place a value on a plate of high-end food" challenge. After he mentioned that it will be like a white salmon dropping out of the sky a beautiful huge salmon does drop out of its hiding place in the ceiling. The chefs have to quickly master the proper slicing of salmon to get maximum value for it. Ramsay tells them that with proper technique they can achieve costs of $15 per plate while getting revenues as high as $40 per plate. That would result in a $750 gross profit.

Here come the judge or in this case judges:Justin Wyborn, General Manager of Nobu-L.A.Donato Poto, General Manager,Chris Denton, Maitre D', Mr. Chow's

Paul won a private helicopter ride with Ramsay. He considered his options on who to bring and chose Tommy even though he knew Jennifer would kill for the chance to be with him. After a rooftop landing in downtown L.A. at a heliport, they went to the Water Grill restaurant, where the very cute Amanda Baumgarten, 6th place finisher on Top Chef 7, is the new executive chef. Tommy was doing a better job of flirting with her than Paul, so she turned her attention on Tommy. I heard her ask him what he was doing after dinner service that evening.

Will, Elise and Jennifer had to spruce up the bar area and prep for the evening's dinner service as their punishment.

Dinner service opened with Tommy and Jennifer on appetizers and Elise on fish. All of them were unable to either cook or communicate, so things got difficult very quickly. Tommy messed up a capellini. Jennifer decided to copy that performance. Jennifer then got a "good" for her risotto. Elise on fish was messing up every single one that came her way. Tommy tried to help her, but her pride did not allow anyone to come in and do better than her even if she was drowning. As the first hour ended only half the appetizers and half of the first table of entrees had been served. Tommy, Jennifer and Elise were all inconsistent in their cooking. Paul and will were turning out excellent meat dishes, including an entire 6-top of meat orders. Tommy had more capellini that was undercooked. Elise's salmon was sticking to the pan. Then Elise sent raw salmon. That got Ramsay's attention enough to cause him to shut the kitchen. All 5 chefs went upstairs, but Ramsay rapidly realized that he, sous chef Scott and sous chef Andi could not get it done quick enough. He sent for his 2 winners, Paul and Will, to help. The others were jealous, particularly Tommy who confronted Ramsay at the end of dinner service to find out why he had been classified with Elise and Jennifer (Ramsay refused to answer him).

Ramsay's post-mortem stated that "it was not the same 5 individuals who had such good performance the prior evening." He asked the chefs to nominate 2. The obvious choices were Elise and Jennifer. Tommy was bad but not as bad. The only question in my mind was whether both were going or only one. I expected to see both eliminated, but that will wait until next week. Ramsay asked Paul, Will and Tommy who was the worst of the nominated chefs. The answers came back a surprising Jennifer, Jennifer and Elise. I am sure that these had little to do with Ramsay's own decision that it was Jennifer being elminated.

It's pretty clear now that it will be Will and Paul for the final 2 chefs. Why he kept Elise is beyond me. However, she will NOT be the winner this year of Hell's Kitchen. She cannot be part a team player which means she cannot lead a team either. I did think it was plucky for Tommy to stand up for himself with Ramsay. (Without being thrown into that gas oven.)

Amanda did make it to TC7 ep. 11 and was one of the top chefs in that season. She made a bad mistake in dicing tuna for tartare the evening before it should have been diced and that caused oxidation and her downfall. Otherwise, she might have won TC7.

The only thing I remember about her was her unique friendship with Alex and how they managed to team up and passed the first round of elimination challenge even beating some notable competitors. She was overshadowed by others...but I have to agree, she's really cute...

Amanda did make it to TC7 ep. 11 and was one of the top chefs in that season. She made a bad mistake in dicing tuna for tartare the evening before it should have been diced and that caused oxidation and her downfall. Otherwise, she might have won TC7.

I am watching the Monday Night Football Game, so I am replaying bits and pieces of my Hell's Kitchen finale tape from tonight, although I will not be completed until tomorrow morning. I will report the outcome for those anxious to know. After a series of tests, including the Taste It, Now Make It test (won by Paul) the first 2 eliminated were as expected, Tommy and Elise. Then in the finale I thought it was a shocker when Paul upset Will for the title, position and big money.

This episode opened with a review of what happened during the season, then a focus on the 4 remaining chef. The relatives of each one were brought out as motivation ($25,000 isn’t enough according to this theory):Paul’s brotherElise’s husband, son and motherWill’s wifeTommy’s mother and 19 year old girlfriend

Ramsay then used his most difficult challenge, Taste It and then Make It. That requires the chefs to make a dish with no knowledge of ingredients or recipe to use their 5 senses and figure out what ingredients were involved and how to cook it in 35 minutes. The approaches taken were:Elise – halibut, prosciutto, mushrooms, kale, creamWill – monkfish, prosciutto, mushrooms, kale, creamPaul – cod, prosciutto, mushrooms, kale, creamTommy - monkfish, Serrano ham, mushrooms, kale, cream

Tommy was eliminated because Serrano ham was not right. Elise and Will were eliminated because it cod was correct and not monkfish. Paul won the opportunity with his brother to visit Dodger’s Stadium, including meeting legendary manager Tommy Lasorda, current manager Don Mattingly and a few players. Paul and his brother got great seats and watched as rookie Dodger pitcher Gordon Ramsay took a post-soccer turn at a new athletic career. He side-armed a pitch with excellent velocity and reached the catcher. Then he bought hot dogs and beer for Paul, his brother and himself. A good time was had by all.

Then it’s back to business at dinner service with the chefs taking a turn running the pass with the usual sabotaging going on. Paul was given his turn first and he had nothing but lack of communication and poor performance out of Tommy. Paul maintained persistent pressure on Tommy to get his act together and it did not impact the flow of dishes leaving the kitchen. Paulo was sabotaged by Scott and he did not taste the shrimp in pasta that Scott sent him instead of lobster. Tommy was next at the pass and he was sabotaged by Maitre D’ James into calling out a nonsensical order, which he failed. Tommy showed uneven leadership of his kitchen. Next was Elise and she passed the sabotage test by catching Scott substituting parsnip puree for potato mash, but failed to notice a squeeze bottle with an incorrect sauce. She was very peremptory in her demands on her kitchen staff. Last was Will, who caught Scott’s attempt to give him some version of lamb that was not correct. Then Elise devised a number of unofficial tests in her attempt to undermine Will. She put pasta in spinach and black peppercorns in sweet potato. Will did not do an exemplary job of running the kitchen, as his staff was not communicating with him in silent protest of his leadership style.

It was time for Ramsay to make and announce his decisions on who were going on and who were not. He first eliminated Tommy because “he was not ready to run BLT Steak.” Then he eliminated Elise, who was teary and upset. Ramsay told her to take her chef’s jacket, which is high praise indeed because he almost never does that. Montages of the Hell’s Kitchen career of Tommy and Elise were shown.

So that leaves Will versus Paul. Their first task is to create a menu for the next evening’s dinner service. The next morning they review those menus with Andi (Will) and Scott (Paul). Then Ramsay offers to take them out for a casual, easy meal. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, as Ramsay is known to put finalists on the spot instantly. The families of Paul and Will go with them to “a new Ristorante, Blanco” in limos and Ramsay met them there. He opened the doors to the kitchen and there was a throng of hundreds cheering wildly. This is the typical challenge to determine who gets first pick of their staff. Paul and Will have one hour to cook 5 different dishes to be judged as follows by BLK Steaks executive chefs around the U.S. and the company president:

That resulted in a final score of Will 3 and Paul 2, with Paul winning the challenge. That gave him the crucial 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th picks of staff. The resulting picks were:Will – Tommy, Natalie, Jennifer, KrupaPaul – Elise, Elizabeth, Jonathon, CarrieThe drama of this process was in Paul stepping up to take the controversial Elise and Will taking Krupa to put last pick Carrie on the same team as Elise. We will see how these decisions turn out.

Paul made the decision to start Elise, by far his most reliable performer, on appetizers and then swing her to replace non-performers. You never know how motivate Elise would be, but it appeared that she intelligently decided to shine as part of the team, something she had not succeeded in doing in any prior episode. She failed on her first batch of shrimp, but then got all her apps out rapidly. It looked like there were no returns for her dishes. Natalie also did a good job on appetizers for Will’s team. Will jumped the gun in giving out orders for entrees before the real orders were in. Ramsay called him out on that. Elizabeth’s scallops were undercooked. Krupa made her first mistake of sending raw fish from the fish station and then continued to make them. It looked like she failed to produce a single good fish dish all evening. Will eventually got tired of her failure because it was killing his chances of winning, so he put Natalie in there and switched Krupa to desserts. Jonathon had a raw steak and then a group of raw steaks. Paul quickly substituted Elise for him and got perfect performance from her for the rest of the evening.

Dinner service ended. It looked to me like a victory for Paul. Ramsay took the customer comment cards and analyzed them, then he called the chefs to his office for the ritual opening of the winning chef’s door. The throng below cheered as Paul went through. In the final closing shot, Ramsay and others were talking to Elise. Ramsay stated his unequivocal advice to Elise: “Just stop being a bitch.” Indeed.

According to the latest news, no Chinese subtitle group is gonna keep translating Gordon Ramsay's series in future. HK S9 is the final series that is translated into Chinese. This means Gordon's series have lost the market among Chinese reality show fans.